Ore briquetting with binders is not manufacture where no foreign matter is removed or concentration occurs.

Mixing chromium and manganese ore fines with binders and mechanically converting them into briquettes did not amount to manufacture. The decisive factor was that no foreign matter was removed and no sintering or similar concentration process was carried out; the ore retained its basic character. Under the HSN Explanatory Notes, concentration requires removal of part or all of the foreign matter, and mere agglomeration by briquetting is insufficient unless it forms part of that process. The Tribunal therefore treated the briquetted ore fines as not classifiable as concentrates, and the Revenue's appeal failed.

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Issues: Whether converting chromium and manganese ore fines into briquettes by mixing them with binders amounted to manufacture and rendered the product classifiable as concentrates.

Analysis: The activity involved only mixing ore fines with binding agents and mechanically converting them into briquettes. The essential feature of concentration under the HSN Explanatory Notes is removal of part or all of the foreign matter by special treatment, while agglomeration by pelleting or briquetting may be relevant only where it is part of such concentration process. On the facts found, no foreign matter was removed, no sintering or similar concentration process was carried out, and the process did not alter the basic character of the ore so as to amount to manufacture. The earlier Tribunal decisions on coal briquettes and manganese ore agglomeration supported the same view.

Conclusion: The process of converting ore fines into briquettes did not amount to manufacture and the Revenue's appeal failed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where ore fines are merely agglomerated into briquettes with binders, without removal of foreign matter or any equivalent concentration process, the activity does not constitute manufacture.

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